One Step At a Time
by SqLib
Summary: Post HBP Ron and Hermione's unfolding relationship from first kiss on as they make new traditions, fight Lord Voldemort and start being grownups. Disclaimer I do not own HP or any characters to it affiliated.
1. Chapter 1

For a young man with far too many brothers, walking into a girl's bedroom was an emotionally turbulent, if not completely unnerving, experience…especially if the girl in question happened to be your best friend and quite possibly the love of your life. He didn't know what he expected, but this certainly wasn't it. There were books, yes, whole bookcases full of them taking over every available shelf-like surface, but there were also pictures, stuffed animals and dolls. She had nick-knacks and a CD player. She was a teenager. Everywhere he looked he saw parts of her life that he didn't know anything about, parts that didn't include him and his heart sank. He could hear her sorting through boxes in her closet, trying to get everything she would need for the wedding and whatever hell came after it and he looked desperately for some part of him in there. He knew she had pictures of the three of them at Hogwarts, but he couldn't find any in her room. What he did find however, was a picture of some girl and boy in what had to be muggle formal wear standing before some hideously constructed backdrop with the words "Winter Ball" and a date printed neatly under them.

"Hey, Hermione?" he called.

"Yes Ron?"

"What's this?" She came out of the closet with a strange look on her face _I swear if I find him sorting through my underwear drawer, I'll…_

"What's what?" Ron pointed at the picture.

"That's a picture."

"Well, yes, I bloody well know it's a picture- I haven't been confounded or anything- but what's it of?" She looked at him confused.

"Of my old friend Clara and her boyfriend at the Winter Ball…"

"I didn't know you had muggle friends." He interrupted looking down and she registered the hurt in his voice.

"Well, you know, I haven't really spoken to her in years. We don't keep in touch or anything. I met her in the street last Christmas and she gave it to me. I didn't quite know what to do with it, so I put it on my bulletin board." she fingered the edge slightly and smiled up at him "It just seemed wrong to throw it away, you know?"

"I didn't know muggles have balls too." He said quietly.

"Yeah, they do." She answered just as quietly. "Kind of a rite of passage." Just then, they heard a knock on the door. It was Harry.

"Are you ready to go? Your mum and dad are waiting to say goodbye." Ron saw her eyes flood with tears and he wanted to reach out and hold her, but the way she stood, her head held high and her chin resolute, he knew she couldn't take that right now: she needed to be strong. He grabbed her bag and nodded toward the door. _You ready? _He asked with his eyes. Hermione looked back at her room, at the light blue walls and the bed she'd slept in since she was two, and she said goodbye. _Yes, _she nodded.

Her mum and dad were waiting at the door- sad and tired after what would be the first of many sleepless nights- but their child was the way they'd raised her to be and so they hugged and kissed her goodbye, pushing all their unspoken hopes and dreams into lingering seconds. And then they watched her walk out the door. She stopped at the end of the walkway the way she had on her first day of school eleven years ago and waved before disappearing before their very eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

He waited until after the last wedding guest had left and the Burrow had finally settled for the night before creeping into the girls' room and shaking her gently.

"Hermione," he called quietly. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Ron? What time is it?" she yawned. "Do we have to go now?" She sat up quickly.

"Shhh, no, it's not time yet. I, uh, have something to show you. Come with me." She rubbed her eyes and got up slowly.

"Okay." He took her hand and pulled her outside. "What's going on?"

"You'll see." She shrugged slightly as Ron led her into the orchard.

"What are we waiting for?" He smiled nervously.

"Illuminate," he whispered and suddenly the entire clearing lit up with soft blue lights that seemed to float ever so softly above their heads. He pointed his wand at an odd looking box tucked in a corner and music started to play. Hermione covered her mouth, her eyes wide in shock.

"Oh, Ron," she breathed.

He took her hands gently, looked straight into her eyes and said, "This is for being an unbelievable prat this year, but most importantly for not asking you to the bloody Yule Ball when I had the chance. Especially, because you were the only one I ever wanted to go with. Would you like to dance? With me, that is?"

"Oh Ron." She wrapped her arms around his neck, trembling as he moved his hands to her waist.

_I've been watching your world from afar  
I've been trying to be where you are  
And I've been secretly falling apart  
Unseen  
To me, you're strange and you're beautiful  
You'd be so perfect with me  
But you just can't see  
You turn every head but you don't see me  
_"This is our song now, you know that?" Hermione said sweetly, her eyes swimming with tears.

"Ours forever," her replied solemnly. _  
I'll put a spell on you  
You'll fall asleep  
When I put a spell on you  
And when I wake you I'll be the first thing you see  
And you'll realize that you love me  
_She looked into his eyes and knew that from this moment on things would never be the same. She watched him hesitate and then bring his lips softly to hers. _First real kiss_, she thought distantly. _  
Sometimes the last thing you want comes in first  
Sometimes the first thing you want never comes  
But I know that waiting is all you can do  
Sometimes  
_"I l-love you 'Mione," he stammered. _It only took me almost seven years to say it. _

"I love you Ron."

_I'll put a spell on you  
You'll fall asleep  
When I put a spell on you  
And when I wake you I'll be the first thing you see  
And you'll realise that you love me  
_Time stopped. It was replaced by two people shuffling softly in the soft blue light under a blanket of stars, her head resting on his chest, his chin tucked against the top of her head. Two people who were turning one night into an eternity. Up in her bedroom, as the night breeze carried the music through the window, Harry and Ginny smiled as they too danced. For once they were taking it one step at a time, they were oblivious to reality, they were young. _  
I'll put a spell on you  
You'll fall asleep  
Cause I put a spell on you  
And when I wake you I'll be the first thing you see  
And you'll realize that you love me, yeah

* * *

Song: "Strange and Beautiful" by Aqualung_


	3. Chapter 3

The final battle came sooner than any of them could have expected. It took two years to find the horcruxes, two years that were enough to turn them from innocent children to weather beaten adults. They had climbed a steep ravine, battled their way through a stone maze to reach the sixth and final piece and the minute Harry destroyed it, Voldemort and six of his closest followers apparated around them.

"Now!" Harry yelled. Ron and Hermione, wands in hand, nodded in assent and performed their assigned spell.

_IMPERVIO _Thought Hermione and a magical shield appeared around the three of them. She closed her eyes and concentrated. If the old book they'd found in Greece was right, she should be able to make them impervious to all spells simply through the power of her mind. Ron's spell was far more complicated. He was going to transfer every ounce of his power to Harry including his life force; for two minutes they were going to be as one. All around them enemy hexes bounced off of the bubble like force field of Hermione's spell. Ron placed his hand on Harry's shoulder-_Trasferis_-he thought and he was Ron no more.

"Okay Hermione." Harry told her with his mind. Instantly the shield dropped and a thick rope of red magic flew out of his wand. As it circled around him, Voldemort laughed.

"Is this it Potter? Seventeen years and this is all you've got?" He started to go for his own wand, but the rope wrapped around him tightly and he was thrust into whirlwind of faces. Everyone he'd ever killed- the power of what had been and what could have been- their very essence strangled him, weakened him. By then Hermione too had her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"This is for my mum and dad and Sirius," said Harry.

"For Dumbledore," said Hermione.

_For the time we'll never get back and the people who will never have time,_ thought Ron.

"Avada Kedavra!" whispered Harry and Voldemort fell to the floor dead. Light died and a moment later the three lay on the ground unconscious surrounded by the dead.

* * *

"It's a miracle they survived," someone started. Ron didn't know where he was, but even through closed eyes he was aware of a brilliant white light. _Bloody hell! I'm dead. I'm dead and they're alive. When I open my eyes there will be God and I'll be on a fluffy cloud and my friends will be on earth without me. Harry and Hermione will get married and have children and maybe name a couple of kids after me and I'll be sitting on a fluffy cloud watching my best mate make a play for my girlfriend, Oh God! No, don't think that. Pretend you're dead…I mean asleep. Harry you marry Hermione and I'll come back and murder you in your sleep... I'm too pale to wear white….I hate being dead. _"But obviously they're not out of the woods yet. They put their very lives into those spells, they may never wake up." Ron opened his eyes and sat up. The doctor had his back to him and all seven Wesleys and two Grangers were crammed by his bedside. He saw everybody's eyes open in shock and his mother began to sob hysterically. 

"My boy, my boy," she shrieked.

"There, there Mrs. Weasley, all's not lost. We've got people working around the clock, registering every single detail of their condition. Someone's always watching." Ron raised an eyebrow sardonically and Mrs. Granger burst into tears as well. Ron looked behind him and saw Harry and Hermione sitting up with dazed expression on their faces. "Now Mrs. Granger, please-"

"Excuse me doctor," Harry said groggily, "but would it be possible-"Ron interrupted him.

"- Would it be possible to get something to eat?" finished Ron. The doctor spun on his heel, transfixed before fainting flat out onto the ground.

"Wicked…" drawled Fred and George, and the heroic trio were enveloped in the arms of their loved ones.


	4. Chapter 4

Their first night out of the hospital Harry, Ron and Hermione weren't quite sure where to go. They'd been living on their own, just the three of them, for so long that to be parted seemed wholly unreasonable. Mrs. Weasley, of course, insisted that they should stay at the Burrow and so they followed her to place that in another lifetime had been home, in one way or another, to all three of them. It was strange being back, having someone fuss over the state of their clothing or cook them dinner, it was almost…

"Unnatural! That's what it is. We've been living in abandoned homes and caves for so long, we've reverted to some kind of wild-animal-type-thing. My own mum serves me dinner and it's like I'm having a bloody out of body experience. Bloody hell…I've become raving mad!"

"You mean there was a time you weren't?" asked Ginny walking by the doorway. Ron dropped his voice.

"Even my baby sister feels like a total stranger. My mum, my dad, my brothers..., it's like I don't know anyone anymore."

"It's the same thing with my parents, it's why I couldn't go home. I thought my mother was going to cry. I almost made my mother cry," said Hermione. Harry looked at them sadly.

"It's to be expected. We knew that when we cut ourselves off, we'd have to deal with it sooner or later. Considering what we've been through, I think we're handling it rather well wouldn't you say/"

"Well we did sustain massive head trauma," said Hermione thoughtfully.

"And we have been severely underfed the last couple of years," added Ron. Harry shook his head, smiling

"Bloody hell mate, do you only ever think about food? We're talking psychological trauma and you're complaining about what we've had to eat."

"I'll give you psychological trauma!" yelled Ron and taking aim carefully he hit Harry with a pillow nearly knocking him off the bed. Harry threw one back and before they knew it, they were involved in a full out pillow fight.

Later that night, Ginny snuck in and pulled Harry to her own room. Ron and Hermione pretended to be asleep as he followed her out-those two had two years to figure out, two years and the rest of their lives-and then Hermione crept over to Ron's bed. He lifted the covers and she crawled in.

"Nothing like a little pillow fight to lighten the mood, eh Ron?"

"I'll say. What do you think those two are doing?" he asked.

"Same thing we are: just being together, talking."

"Must be weird." Hermione yawned.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I can't imagine having to stay away from you these two years. Not being able to talk to you every day."

"Neither can I. I can't even imagine sleeping without you to keep me warm." Ron's arms tightened around her

"Yeah, I know what you mean…but we better not let my mum catch us or she'll accuse you of stealing my virtue."

"Don't worry, no chance of that happening," she said with a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

"Of what? My mum catching us."

"No, of me trying to steal your virtue." Ron tickled her until she could hardly breathe she was laughing so hard and then he kissed her firmly and gently.

"I'm a gentleman you know," he said as sleep began to overcome him. She turned around to face him and smiled. Their faces were drenched in moonlight which reflected off their hair and made them look like children again.

"My night in shining armor," she breathed, putting her forehead against his chest.

"And don't you ever forget it," he mumbled.

Three floors beneath them, falling asleep to the sound of their children's sweet whispers, Molly and Arthur Weasley smiled contentedly. _The dark times are over, _they thought. There were obstacles to be overcome to be sure, but things could only get better from now on.

"We're so lucky Arthur," Molly sighed. "We've got some of the best children under this roof that a parent could ever hope for."

"That we are," he replied, blowing out the candle, "That we are."


End file.
